Copeland-Spode Contained Delicacies
JE sent me photos of two pieces of a five-piece set of Copeland-Spode covered dishes circa 1900. Both the style and the form of the dishes point to the late …
Cruet Stand Tells Delectable Stories
This 1880s cruet stand, once the rage, tells delectable stories. HU sent me a round swiveling carousel of silver plate inset with five crystal cruets, topped with an elaborate silver …
Crystal Singing Bowl in G#
The Boys and Girls Club Thrift Store in Ventura seemed an unlikely place to find a Kundalini yoga ‘sound bath’ practitioner’s quartz crystal singing bowl. JE wrote me that her …
Aunt Frances’ White Damask Tablecloth
My daughter-in-law Meredith asked for the gift of the early 20th century white Damask banqueting tablecloth once owned by my great-aunt. Perhaps your family set tables this past season using …
Hotel Art
My family treated each other to two nights over the holidays at a bougie hotel experience in Encinitas instead of forcing one member to host Christmas. The pricey hotel experience …
Traditional Japanese Woodblock Prints by Yoshida
RF owns two exquisite Japanese woodcuts. She couldn’t make out the signature, but I did. Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) became a leading artist of the Shin-hanga “new print” movement of the …
Connection to Order of Knighthood Medal
This early 19th century medal, an Order of Knighthood, may share a connection to my partner’s family history. You see, my partner’s last name is Flandrick, Province of Flanders, with …
Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffalo
HH owns a 1920s sterling and enamel medallion from the Royal Antediluvian (‘before the flood’) Order of the Buffalo in red, white, cobalt, and turquoise. Fattorini and Sons LTD, Jewelers, …
Duncan Phyfe’s Neoclassical Style
HH’s grandmother from Boston told him Duncan Phyfe made the table she left him. Almost everyone with an East Coast grandma runs the risk that she’ll say Phyfe made her …
The Banana Connection
In November of 2024 a banana duct-taped to a white plaster wall sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Auction. Conceived as an edition (series) of five, titled Comedian, …